


The Curse or the Cure

by alistoney



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Magic, Magnus’ past, Sort Of, dealing with the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28062339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alistoney/pseuds/alistoney
Summary: An old friend stirs up trouble in New York and Magnus is forced to deal with the past.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 28
Kudos: 118
Collections: The Malec Secret Santa - Edition 2020





	The Curse or the Cure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cuubism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuubism/gifts).



> For my lovely secret santa giftee. Your prompts were all so inspiring and I tried to fit as many as I could into this. I hope you enjoy!

Magnus and Alec are halfway home from an impromptu trip to the pizzeria around the corner when Alec’s phone rings. 

“Hello?” Alec answers, fishing the phone out of his pocket. He’s supposed to be off the rest of the day, the only people who’d be calling him would be Izzy or Jace. 

“Alec.” Sure enough, it’s Izzy on the other line. 

“Is everything okay?” Alec asks. 

Magnus raises a silent questioning eyebrow from where he’s walking at Alec’s side.

“We just received a distress call from the patrol out in Brooklyn.” Izzy tells him, “I’m heading out with a team but you’d get there faster.” 

Alec puts up a hand to get Magnus to stop walking, listening to Izzy rattle off an address right around the corner from where they’re at. 

Alec is about to hang up when Izzy’s voice changes. 

“And Alec, be careful,” she says, voice sounding unsettled. “It sounded bad. I don’t think it was just demons.”

“I’ll be careful Iz,” he murmurs, “promise.” 

“Okay,” Izzy replies, “I’ll meet you there.” 

When Alec hangs up Magnus sends him a small smile. “Off to save the world on your day off?” 

Alec huffs a small laugh, unsheathing his seraph blade, “demons don’t take a day off.” 

“Portal?” Magnus asks, already summoning magic to his fingertips. 

“Actually,” Alec says, “would you come with? Iz said it wasn’t good.” 

Magnus rolls his eyes, sweeping his hands down and creating a portal. “Darling, if you thought I was going to let you walk into a patrol gone wrong without backup, you don’t know me well enough.” 

Alec laughs, grabbing Magnus’ wrist as he steps though the portal. 

The laugh quickly dies in his throat when they step out into chaos. 

The street is flooded with screams of pain and writhing Shadowhunters. It is unlike anything Alec has ever seen before. None of the patrol is left standing.

Alec hurries closer, Magnus on his heels. He kneels down next to Dominic, the patrol lead, Magnus doing the same on his other side. 

“What the hell happened?” Alec demands while Magnus places a hand onto Dominic’s chest to try and heal him. 

“Ambushed,” Dominic gets out between pained groans, “a warlock.”

_ Shit. _ A rogue warlock willing and strong enough to take out an entire team of Shadowhunters did not bode well for them. 

Alec sees Magnus’ hands still at Dominic’s words. When Alec meets his eyes there’s something he can’t quite read warring there. 

“It’s poison,” Magnus says, voice ragged. He gets to his feet, taking several steps away from Dominic’s body. 

_ Are you sure?  _ Alec starts to ask but cuts himself off when he sees genuine fear flit across Magnus’ face for a brief second. 

He wants to reach out to Magnus, to do something to reassure him, but Alec doesn’t know what the hell is going on here and if this is poison, they likely don’t have the time for comfort. 

“Do you remember anything about the warlock?” Alec asks, turning away from Magnus with some difficulty, “defining features.”

“Tattoos up his arm,” Dominic gasps out, “slight Italian accent.”

Magnus freezes again, voice hard when he speaks, “Angelo. The bastard. He’s banned from the Western Hemisphere.” 

“We need to find him,” Alec says. 

Magnus shakes his head, “We need to get these people back to the Institute first. This poison,” he falters, “it’s slow acting but extremely painful and dangerous. We need the antidote. Quickly.” 

***

Even once Izzy arrives with backup, it takes them a good half hour to drag the entire patrol through a portal to the Institute infirmary. 

Alec stands in the hall outside the infirmary, arms crossed, watching his Shadowhunters writhe on the beds. Medical staff flits from bed to bed but they are of little use. If this is poison like Magnus had said, the only thing that is going to help them is the antidote.

Magnus is pacing the hall Alec is standing in, on the phone with Catarina. Alec tries not to eavesdrop, but Magnus has seemed off since they found the patrol. 

“I thought I’d gotten rid of it,” Magnus was muttering down the line, hands gesturing wildly, “I know—I—yes, I have everything at the loft. But—“ Magnus cuts himself off when he sees Alec watching him. 

There’s a split second where Alec thinks about looking away and pretending he wasn’t listening. He doesn’t. 

“Just go to the loft,” Magnus says into the phone, hanging up and then looking at Alec carefully. 

Alec takes a deep breath. “Are you okay?” 

Something flashes across Magnus’ face, too fleeting for Alec to understand what it means. He doesn’t answer the question. 

“Cat is on her way to the loft,” he says instead. “We have the ingredients to prepare the antidote for the patrol. But we need to find Angelo. There’s a good amount of hideouts he could be squatting at—“

“Give me the locations,” Alec cuts him off. 

This is a deflection method Alec has grown used to from Magnus. He starts moving a thousand miles a minute and doesn’t stop for air. Alec isn’t sure why this is hitting Magnus so close to home, but it obviously is. 

“Alexander,” Magnus starts and then trails off. His voice loses some of the tension it had when he says Alec’s name but he still looks wound tight, fingers rubbing together absently. 

“Magnus, you can’t do two things at once,” Alec says gently. He wants to reach out and still Magnus’ hands, to twine their fingers together and ask Magbus if he’s okay and get an honest answer. He knows that won’t happen though. “I’ll call you when we locate him. I promise,” he says instead. 

Magnus seems to deflate just a little bit and nods. “Okay,” he snaps his fingers and a paper appears in his hand. He hands it to Alec. 

***

Alec puts the whole Institute to work with the list of locations Magnus had given him so he’s not surprised when it only takes them a couple of hours to locate Angelo.

“We’re pretty sure he’s at the safehouse in Queens,” Izzy says, sidling up beside Alec and handing him the paper with Magnus’ list. 

Alec takes the paper, folding it and putting it in his pocket. He can’t get Magnus’ panic out of his head. 

He almost wants to just put together a team and go get Angelo himself, but he’d promised Magnus he’d call him. And from the way Magnus had said Angelo’s name, it seems they know each other quite well. Logically, Magnus is the only one of them who knows what they might be walking into. Despite that, Alec still wants to protect him. 

He sighs and pulls out his phone, “Start getting a team together,” he tells Izzy, “I’m going to call Magnus and let him know.” 

“Alexander.” Magnus’ voice sounds distracted when he answers the phone. 

“We found him,” Alec says, “he’s still in New York. Queens.”

Alec hears Magnus put something down on the other line, “Of course he is. The man’s always been dramatic. He’s probably waiting for a fight.” 

So Alec had been right. They do know each other well. 

“Magnus,” Alec starts carefully, “about Angelo. It would be nice to know what we’re getting into here.” 

He doesn’t voice the part about how Magnus had looked scared of Angelo. He’s not sure Magnus would appreciate Alec pointing that out. 

There’s a tense moment of silence in which Alec almost regrets asking the question. 

“We were friends,” Magnus finally says, “but that was a long time ago.” 

“And he’s looking for a fight?” Alec prompts.

Magnus chuckles dryly, no humor in the sound. “Let’s just say that our friendship didn’t end on the best terms.” 

“Did it have to do with the poison?” Alec asks before he can stop himself. 

Magnus goes quiet on the other line. Alec can hear what must be Catarina moving around in the background of the call. 

“The poison,” Magnus finally says, “is my fault.” 

“What?” Alec asks, pausing his pacing in the hallway. 

“I developed it,” Magnus says, voice hard. 

“You developed the poison Angelo used,” Alec repeats slowly, brain trying to catch up with the implications of the statement, “that’s why you knew what it was so quickly.”

“Yes,” Magnus confirms, voice barely a whisper now. Alec can hear the guilt in it even over the phone. 

It is at odds with the kind of person Alec would imagine would develop a poison that was slowly and painfully killing Alec’s people in the next room. It isn’t at odds with the kind of person Alec knows  _ Magnus  _ is though. Here and now. 

“Magnus—“ Alec starts, only to be cut off quickly.

“It was a mistake.” Magnus says. “And I—we don’t have the time to talk about this right now. The Shadowhunters need to get the antidote in the next few hours if we want them to survive and I haven’t got a clue what Angelo’s plan here is but I’d rather not find out.” 

Alec bites his lip. It’s only been a few hours since Alec last saw Magnus but he sounds so  _ tired _ . 

“We can go in ourselves,” Alec suggests even though he already knows Magnus isn’t going to agree with that. 

“Cat’s got the rest of this antidote handled. I’ll meet you in Queens,” Magnus says, ignoring the offer, and Alec sighs internally. 

“Okay,” he agrees even though it’s not. 

***

Magnus is dressed to kill when he meets with Alec and his team. He has on the same shirt he’d had on earlier but he’s exchanged the plain black blazer with a studded mauve coat and an overabundance of jewelry that he hadn’t had on before. 

His face is hard when he steps through the portal but he sends Alec a thin smile when he sees him looking at him. 

“There are wards up,” Alec tells him as he walks over. 

“Not a problem,” Magnus says, “Angelo was never very good at wards.” 

Alec wants to ask what Magnus and Angelo used to do together, dealing with poisons and making wards for safe houses but now is not the time. 

Magnus turns to the team of Shadowhunters Alec had brought with him for the mission. Jace, Izzy, and Clary stand at the front of the group. Magnus looks at them and then to Alec.

Alec nods at him. Magnus knows by now that Alec doesn’t mind when he briefs his Shadowhunters but he always asks permission first. 

“As soon as I bring the wards down, Angelo is going to know. I’m going to try and block his magic as fast as possible but we have to be careful. The poison is magically administered. If you see magic coming at you, get out of the way.” 

Magnus’ gaze flicks back to Alec’s for a brief moment and he looks like he’s going to say something but he just lets out a breath instead. Alec realizes beltatedly that Magnus might be worried about  _ him _ . 

Magnus walks by Alec and up to the building. Alec lets himself reach out and brush a hand over his back as he walks by. Magnus’ seems to let himself relax into it for a touch of a second. 

The next second he’s stepped out of Alec’s space, every inch the powerful high warlock. Alec watches as he makes a downward motion with his hands, similar to the way he brings down the wards at the loft. 

There air ripples with electricity and the ozone smell of magic and then Magnus drops his hands. He doesn’t wait, just walks straight into the building without hesitation. 

Alec goes after him, motioning for the team to follow behind. 

“Do you have a plan?” Alec asks quietly, adjusting his grip on his bow out of habit as they walk a narrow hallway into the safehouse. 

“Does getting the bastard the hell out of my city count?” Magnus asks. Alec doesn’t fail to notice that there’s poorly hidden fury in his voice. 

Before he can reply Magnus is yelling “duck!” and pushing Alec down. Alec drops quickly as a burst of magic whizzes over their heads. 

Magnus stands quickly, hand glowing blue and throwing his own burst of magic in the direction the other magic had come from. 

Alec stays crouched on the ground. “Everyone okay?” 

“We’re good,” Jace calls from behind him and Alec nods to himself, standing.

“Well he’s not hiding, at least,” Alec says. 

Magnus lets out an amused huff, the first thing that has sounded even near positive since he’d gotten here. Alec sends him a small smile. 

Magnus starts forwards again, this time more cautiously. Alec follows his lead, muscles tense and ready to spring into action. 

The hallway opens up into a large room. It’s mostly empty save for a shelf against one wall. It’s obvious Angelo hasn’t been here long at all. 

The man in question stands in the center of the room. Both his hands glow red with magic. His mouth turns up into a slow smile when he sees them, sending an uneasy feeling into Alec’s gut.

“Magnus Bane,” he says, voice echoing in the room, “What a lovely surprise. Did you enjoy my little gift? You’ve always enjoyed a bit of poison haven’t you?” 

Magnus falters next to him and Alec clenches his jaw, torn between wanting to protect Magnus’ honor and not knowing the full story.

“They’ll be dead soon,” Angelo goes on. He ignores Alec and the rest of the team in favor of speaking directly to Magnus, “But you already know that. You—“

Alec doesn’t hesitate this time. He might not know the full story, but he  _ does _ know that revealing Magnus is behind the poison in front of a team of Shadowhunters who had just seen their friends in unimaginable pain back at the Institute is not going to end well. Alec trusts Magnus, knows the kind of person he is. His  _ Shadowhunters _ will take any excuse to vilify him. He steps swiftly in front of Magnus, letting an arrow fly. 

Angelo’s sentence is cut off by a sharp cry of pain as the arrow lodges itself into his leg. It gives Magnus enough time to recover and he’s hurled a binding spell at Angelo before Alec can make another move. 

Tendrils of magic wrap around Angelo’s body, rendering him immobile and unable to use magic. Alec freezes but doesn’t let down his guard. 

Angelo just smiles despite his current state. “Is this any way to treat a friend?”

Magnus ignores his comment. “I told you if you came back here that I’d send you straight to the Spiral Labyrinth.”

“Oh dear, so dramatic.” Angelo replies. 

“What do you want?” Alec demands. 

Angelo turns to look at him, only now acknowledging he’s there. “It’s very simple,  _ Shadowhunter _ ,” he says, a hatred in his eyes that has Alec holding his breath, “I just want to remind Magnus that he can play nice with you Nephilim all he wants.” His gaze cuts over to Magnus, who is standing stock still, “But he’s still one of us. Always will be.” 

Anger lights like fire in Alec. He imagines pulling his seraph blade out and stabbing it straight into Angelo’s side, no mercy. It takes an incredible amount of self restraint not to go through with it. 

Magnus acts in the same moment, reaching out and conjuring a portal that Angelo disappears through. When the portal closes, Magnus quickly sends a fire message and then brushes his hands off theatrically. 

He spins on his heel to face the team of Shadowhunters standing behind them and grins. “Well I think that’s done, why don’t we go save your friends?” 

It isn’t until everyone turns and starts shuffling back out of the safehouse that Magnus’ posture betrays his true feelings. 

He looks like a puppet whose strings have been cut, shoulders slumping and hands balled into fists. 

Alec walks up to him and places a careful hand on his shoulder. For a moment, when Magnus turns to look at him he looks heartbreakingly fragile. 

Alec opens his mouth but Magnus has already pulled away, following behind the line of Shadowhunters. 

Alec lets out a silent breath and follows him. 

Later. They’ll talk about it later.

***

Once Alec has briefed the Institute on the situation he makes his way down to the infirmity to check on the patrol. 

Magnus and Cat had administered the antidote while Alec had given his briefing so the infirmary is quiet when he gets there. He stands in the doorway, watching Cat flit from bed to bed along with infirmary staff. Shadowhunters are sitting up in bed now, chatting across the room or sleeping soundly. 

It’s a much better atmosphere than it had been only a few hours ago when all of them had been screaming in pain. 

“Hey boss!” Dominic calls out when he notices Alec in the doorway. 

Alec smiles, stepping into the room. “How are you feeling?” 

He pretends not to notice Magnus watching him from the corner of the room. 

Dominic leans back into the pillows in the bed. “Exhausted, but alive.” He gestures to where Magnus and Cat stand, “all thanks to them.” 

It’s a win, Shadowhunters in his Institute acknowledging the Downworlders who save their asses time and time again. When Alec turns to share the moment with Magnus and Cat it’s to see Magnus hurrying out the door. 

He excuses himself from Dominic and makes his way over to Cat. It’s interesting, their relationship. Alec respects Cat and he hopes she respects him as well. But it’s more than that. They share a common trait in that they love Magnus Bane.

“He said he told you,” Cat says without preamble when Alec walks over. 

Alec sighs. “A little.”

Cat smiles sadly at him, “take him home.” 

Alec nods. 

***

Magnus goes straight for the drinks cart when they get back home. Alec watches the tense line of his back for a long moment before he walks up behind him. 

“Magnus.” Alec waits until Magnus turns to face him and then brings his hands up to cup both sides of Magnus’ face. “It’s okay. Everyone is okay.”

Magnus shakes his head minutely between Alec’s hands. “It’s not okay.” 

“Talk to me,” Alec murmurs, sweeping his thumbs over Magnus’ cheeks and searching his eyes. “Let me help.”

Magnus releases a shaky breath, turning his head so Alec’s hands fall from his cheeks. “Damn you,” he mutters. Alec isn't quite sure he’s supposed to have heard it. 

Magnus places his glass loudly back onto the drinks cart. He doesn’t look back at Alec. “You can’t help.”

Alec feels helpless, both wanting to step forwards and gather Magnus into his arms and being worried he’ll be pushed away even further if he tries. 

“Okay,” Alec says quietly. It’s hard, realizing that sometimes he  _ can’t  _ fix things. It’s what Alec does. He fixes the problem. It’s how he’s taken care of Izzy and Jace all his life. But with Magnus he’s found that sometimes fixing something isn't an option. “But I’m not going anywhere.”

Alec reaches out and slips his fingers between Magnus’. He tugs only slightly but Magnus jerks forwards suddenly. Their joined hands get crushed between their chests and Magnus’ forehead falls to Alec’s shoulder. His free hand smooths up and down Magnus’ lower back. 

They stay like that for a long time. Magnus isn’t quite crying, but he takes small shuddering breaths into Alec’s shirt that break Alec’s heart. 

When he finally lifts his face, he looks wrecked. Alec isn’t sure what to say so he brings the hand still tangled with Magnus’ to his lips and kisses Magnus’ knuckles. 

Magnus shudders but doesn’t pull his hand away.

“God, I—I’m sorry,” he gets out quietly. 

“You don’t have to apologize,” Alec says just as softly. 

“I almost got half of your Institute killed. Of course I need to apologize.” 

Alec is shaking his head even before Magnus can finish the sentence. “ _ You _ didn’t poison them. In fact you caught the guy who did  _ and  _ saved everyone with the antidote.” 

“I wouldn’t have had to if I hadn’t made the damn thing in the first place,” he says bitterly, “I was young and I was angry. And I did things I’ll never forgive myself for.”

“Magnus—“ Alec starts, but it seems like some sort of dam has been broken in Magnus because words keep spilling out. 

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew I wanted my father’s approval. I wanted so badly for him to think I was worth it. For someone to be proud of me for once.” Magnus lets out a laugh that holds no humor, “And he was. Fuck, he was proud of me. And that’s when I’d realized what I’d done.”

Alec doesn’t say anything, just squeezes Magnus’ hand. 

“But it was too late,” Magnus says, “I'd been working on it with Angelo so he knew about it and he refused to wipe out all records of it like I wanted.”

“So you came up with an antidote instead.” Alec guesses. 

Magnus nods. “I haven’t had to use it in years. It caught me off guard. Reminded me of a past I’d rather forget.” He finally looks at Alec for the first time in the conversation. “A past I’d have preferred you didn’t know about.” 

There’s hesitance and something like resignation in Magnus’ face now. As if he’s ready for Alec to hate him. As if that was even remotely possible. 

“Magnus,” I don’t  _ care _ about your past. I love you. Here and now. I know who you are. I see it everyday.” 

Magnus scoffs but Alec isn’t finished. He’ll be damned if he doesn’t show Magnus what everyone else sees when they look at him. 

“I watch you choose good every single fucking day. You saved my people today. Hell you’ve saved us  _ hundreds _ of times. You help every person that shows up at your door. You made a mistake. That doesn’t define you.”

Magnus’ eyes are wet by the time Alec finishes and he’s blinking rapidly. This time it’s Alec who is pulled into a hug by their joined hands. 

“I love you.” Magnus mutters into Alec’s chest and Alec presses a kiss to his temple. He’s not sure he’s convinced Magnus but this is a start.

“I love you too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
